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Conor Coghlan's Bow Spring Chair

Watch as this architect creates a beautiful new chair from scratch

By Rain Noe - September 22, 2016

Conor Coghlan might be an architect, but as part of his studies at Harvards' Graduate School of Design he participated in a furniture making workshop. Tasked with producing an original design, Coghlan writes that he became "interested in how the arms and legs of the chair could work in unison as a type of double bow spring structure—becoming extremely strong under direct loading, yet flexible and responsive to the shifting load of the user."

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Here's how he executed his plan, and it's fun to watch because we see every step from the sketching to the modeling (both physical and computer) and then the fabrication:

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"The legs/arms of the chair are made from steam bent, glue laminated strips of ash," Coghlan writes, "and the seat is made from glue laminated birch plywood. Throughout the semester I employed many different techniques of fabrication from hand files to CNC lathes."

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Looks pretty darn good!

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Conor Coghlan's Bow Spring Chair

r b

3 years ago

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So much nice work, and I can't take my eyes of the terrible screws holding the bottom of teh bow together. Consider different joinery method at the bottom. At the least cut those screws down, or get some shorter ones, binding posts maybe? C'mon, it's so close.

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- Ben Howard
  
  r b
  
  3 years ago
  
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  My first thoughts exactly. A complete holistic design really comes down to the details that everybody else will not worry about until. But, in the end these are the points that can cause the overall design to feel unfinished.
  
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René Petersen

3 years ago

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Check out his youtube ... work in progress

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René Petersen

3 years ago

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... https://www.youtube.com/user/conorcoghlan

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O Studio

3 years ago

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Yes, Binding posts, but this is quite a nice looking piece!

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Alex Botkin

3 years ago

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Although I would agree that binding posts might be a better choice visually.

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Alex Botkin

3 years ago

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Bolts, not screws. Bolts are a bit trickier to even up than it first appears. Perhaps it is intended to give the chair a bit of traction so that it doesn't "spring" it's way across the floor.

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- Andy T
  
  Alex Botkin
  
  3 years ago
  
  Z
  
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  Lets hope you don't buy this with a wooden or ceramic floor then!
  
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Share your thoughts

Rain Noe

I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.